This past week, French comedian and Youtube Vlogger Remi Gaillard released a video entitled “Free Sex” in which he simulates sex acts with random, unknowing women in the streets of France. The video (attached…watch at your own risk) already has almost 5.5 million views despite having just been released on March 28, 2014. The video features Gaillard targeting random, young women while they are bent over, sitting down or just not paying attention and simulates oral sex and sexual intercourse.
While the video has many viewers laughing, it has also been criticized for its problematic portrayal of women as non-consenting sex objects. These women are all initially unaware of what is happening just behind them and appear disturbed and even frightened when they realize what Gaillard is doing behind them. This video targets the bodies of young women for the humor of the entire internet, which raises a slew of issues, especially for female college students who are forced to fear public sexual harassment such as this.Videos such as this one are meant to be funny but actually propagate harmful ideas about women and rape culture. Laughing at non consensual sexual jokes normalizes them and makes them acceptable.  As Jessica Roy writes for TIME Magazine, “in “Free Sex,” women cease to be people, and instead are relegated to objects, props exploited for the humor of an overgrown frat boy and his cadre of immature fans. It’s the kind of schtick that middle school boys would laugh about until they grew up and got a real girlfriend, someone who could actually imbue in them a genuine sense of just how disgusting, degrading and upsetting experiences like this can be for women.”